Yadavindra Singh


Maharaja Sir Yadavinder Singh was the 9th and last Maharaja of Patiala from 1938 to 1971. He was also an Indian cricketer who played in one Test in 1934.

Early life and family

Born at Patiala, Punjab in 1914, Maharaja Yadavindra attended Aitchison College, Lahore. He served in the Patiala State Police, became its Inspector General and served in Malaya, Italy and Burma during the Second World War. In 1935, he married his first wife, Hem Prabha Devi of Saraikela State.
He succeeded his father, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, as the Maharaja of Patiala on 23 March 1938 and subsequently married his second wife, Mehtab Kaur, in 1938. It was believed that his second marriage was due to the stated reason that his first wife being issueless, which was in fact, was due to the influences of Akali leaders who wanted the future Maharaja of Patiala to marry to a Sikh family in order to beget genuine Sikh heirs.

Political career

Yadavindra served as president of the Indian Olympic Association from 1938 to 1960. He was instrumental in organizing the Asian Games. He founded Yadavindra Public School. Lal Bagh Palace, the building in which Yadavindra Public School is housed was donated by Sir Yadavindra Singh. He was a noted horticulturist by passion and later served as chairman of Indian Horticulture Development Council. He was also the president of BCCI.
Following his accession to the throne of Patiala, Yadavindra pursued a political and diplomatic career, serving as chancellor of the Chamber of Princes from 1943 to 1944. In 1947, when India gained independence, he was the pro-chancellor of the Chamber of Princes. At a special session he said "After centuries time has come when India has gained independence from foreign rule and it's the time when we all should unite for our motherland" and persuaded many other rulers to join India.

Partition (1947)

During the Partition of India numerous pogroms occurred in and around the princely state of Patiala. In several cases, organized bands of Sikhs were responsible for atrocities. The late Harkishan Singh Surjeet, of the Communist Party of India, witnessed the events and claimed in an interview: ‘The communal attacks on the minorities were definitely planned. I know more about the persons involved in the eastern wing because I was there. I saw those dreadful acts with my own eyes. In that conspiracy, the Maharaja of Patiala was involved. The idea was that if the Muslims were driven out.'” The attacks on Sikhs and Hindus in March 1947 in Rawalpindi are regarded as one of the major crimes that triggered off others. Nehru believed the Maharaja had sought to ethnically cleanse the territory of Muslims as part of this effort.
Maharajas of Patiala and Faridkot, and Yadavindra Singh is quoted as having said "We won't leave a Muslim here" at a party with British officers. The Foreign Minister of Patiala, Sardar Bari Ram Sharma issued a denial stating "I definitely assert that no Patiala soldier has associated himself with or has been involved in any killings in any part of the East Punjab."
He agreed to the incorporation of the princely state into India on 5 May 1948. He was Rajpramukh of the new Indian state of Patiala and East Punjab States Union until it was merged with Punjab in 1956.

Donation

In 1956 Yadvinder Singh donated the Anand Bhawan, a 150 bigha palace, to the Government of Punjab for a holiday home for poor children, which was later leased out to Baba Ramdev for his Patanjali Trust.

Later life and death

He continued his career from 1956 onwards, serving as Indian delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1956 to 1957 and to UNESCO in 1958. He also headed the Indian delegation to the FAO on and off during 1959-1969. Sir Yadavindra served as Indian Ambassador to Italy and as Indian Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1971 until 17 June 1974, when he died suddenly in office at The Hague from heart failure, age 60. On specific instructions of Indira Gandhi, he was cremated with full state honours.
He was succeeded as family head by his son Captain Amarinder Singh, who is a politician with the Congress Party and who served as Chief Minister of the Indian State of Punjab from 2002 to 2007 and again starting in 2017. His daughter, Heminder Kaur, was married to K. Natwar Singh, the former external affairs minister of India.

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